The Milkweed ( Asclepias syriaca ) in one of our wild gardens really took off this year.
It is setting seed pods now.
AND still feeding Monarch Caterpillars! Hope this one makes into a chrysalis. Milkweed is the only host plant for Monarchs.
Far Side
We had a good sale day yesterday. It hardly seems like we are making progress because we keep adding items. Saw a neighbor we had not seen in quite awhile...known for his jokes. Had a number of out of State customers.
One more day today and we will close up for the week. We will see what next weekend brings.
I walked through the East Wildflower area after supper...I need to put on my boots and take care of some poison ivy...again. Leaves of three let it be...or let me spray it away:)
That is PI snuggled up to the Gaillardia....PI is an opportunist plant...it will snuggle up to something worthwhile to increase its chances of survival.
We took a short ride and took care of some more Canada Thistle....miserable stuff anyways. There was an area I was hesitant to drive into...but Far Guy managed.
The East Wildflower area is finally getting some Milkweed. Not sure that it will flower this year because it is so dry.
We have been noticing an increase in Monarch Butterflies around the yard.
Far Side
You can smell the Milkweed from a long way away. It has a heavy earthy sweet smell. Some say it is like the smell of Lilacs…I don’t think so. It has been a good year for Milkweed. The blooms are hanging down like huge earrings.
We have a number of plants in our area. I am only noticing a few monarch caterpillars. That makes sense as we have only seen a few Monarch Butterflies.
There were small butterflies feeding on the nectar the other day…he is brown with orange dots on the edge of his wings. Not sure what kind they were.
We have had busy days. I have been working on painting Christmas ornaments inside on hot days and outside when it is nice weather. I have ten ornaments completely done and another ten just need strings for hangers, another ten are being painted. I am trying to get all the ones done for relatives who will visit soon. Almost all of the actual carving is completed or should be completed within the next week.
I mow the grass every few days, it rains nearly every other day too.
Chance has decided that he will eat ice cubes every evening. He whines in front of the fridge until I get a bowl full of ice cubes and feed them to him one by one…can you say spoiled Border Collie. I cannot put the bowl of the cubes on the floor…he wants them from my hand. Not sure what is up with that behavior …only he knows for sure. After he has had his fill he abandons me and goes to sleep. He might miss the snow and ice that he eats all winter long.
The air is heavy with the sweet fragrance of the Common Milkweed….or Asclepsias syriaca.
The blooms are full. I did not see any larvae on them…sadly we have only seen a few Monarchs lately. Fibers from the old stems can be used for nest building by Orioles.
Minnesota has thirteen different kinds of milkweed.
Busy days after the 4th of July. I went to Bingo with my Dad, he hollered Bingo once! In the N’s …he never Bingos in the N’s… he said it was a historic bingo.
Far Guy and I are working on the Christmas Ornaments, we have 70 ready to paint and 10 are being painted…so 80/100 are carved. Last year I was done with the entire project by the end of August…time will tell if I make it this year. The projected heat wave may give me a chance to paint indoors.
Chance is in a funk …again…he gets depressed after Jen visits…Miney and Little Elvis are missed. Chance got to play “Lassie “ one day…I was keeping one eye on all three dogs as I worked in my garage. Suddenly Chance appeared and just stared at me….interrupting my work….something was wrong. Little Elvis was with Chance but Miney was no where to be found…I hollered and hollered (she is quite deaf) …I went to the house to see if Far Guy had let her in the house…he hadn’t but said “She is right out the window.” What a relief. Not sure where she went but luckily she came back.
No, I have not hit my head and seeing stars. I have been seeing patches of white in the ditch and they sparkle in the sunlight. Not that we have had much sunshine lately.
It’s kind of funny ..you see white in the ditch this time of year and you think snow.
The Milkweed seeds are escaping the pods one by one…like little parachuters jumping out of an airplane. Milkweed seed has a wonderful dispersal system..on windy days they can fly for a long way on an air currant.
It must have been a good year for Milkweed..they must enjoy the dry warm weather that we had all summer. Although some plants will put out lots of seeds in the years that they are stressed..one last ditch effort to survive.
I collected a bit of seed from the roadside. One of these days I will take out a shovel and plant some of the seeds out in the wild gardens and along our driveway. The seeds will get their cold treatment this winter which will spur them onto germination with the snowmelt or the spring rains.
Milkweed is the only food for the Monarch butterfly larva. Back in 1999 - 2002 we had hundreds of Monarchs all summer long. This summer we had a few..and all of our milkweed was eaten down to the stem with no chance to produce any seed..so I hope we can get some more Milkweed growing:)
I love the flowers..the unique structure of the hoods and horns ..or more commonly known as a crown..or a star shaped crown ..call it what you want it is a unique flower. On a unique plant, with one unique purpose..to be food for a colorful larvae that becomes a beautiful butterfly. There are thirteen different kinds of Milkweed in Minnesota, I have only shared four from my neck of the woods:)
